


Thread and Needle

by Rusted_Crutches



Series: Birthday Bash [1]
Category: Cafe Cardamari Tales (Webcomic), Splatoon
Genre: Birthday Fluff, F/M, Wholesome Interactions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 09:58:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16741849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rusted_Crutches/pseuds/Rusted_Crutches
Summary: Arnick wakes up on his birthday to find his trusty Captains Cap has mysteriously gone missing, and spends the entire day searching for it. At the end of it all, Tetrox surprises him with an unexpected gift.





	Thread and Needle

**Author's Note:**

> Small fic I wrote for Arnicks birthday based on a little idea i've had for a while, so happy birthday you absolute grump! 
> 
> Enjoy~!

_Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep_

Arnick opened his eyes to the sound of his alarm clock, and squinted at the sunlight invading his vision. He brought up a hand to shield his eyes, grumbling as he begrudgingly sat up halfway on his futon, and violently smashed the clock’s snooze button. After taking a moment for his eyes to adjust, he looked over to the machine with bleary eyes. Either from repeated abuse or his still blurred vision, Arnick could barely make out the numbers scrolling across its screen.

‘11/25, 7:30 A.M,’ it read. November 25th. His birthday.

He sat up fully on his futon and sighed, tossing his blanket aside. He began to untangle his twisted tentacles, still tied up from the previous day, with slow, tired movements.

Today marks the day of Arnick’s two full decades of life. An exciting celebration for most, but he just saw it as any other day. Now, he doesn’t resent or hold any particular distaste for today, and there’s no tragic backstory as to _why_ , that’s just how he feels. He sees a birthday as less of an actual celebration of one's birth, and more of an excuse to hang out with friends and party. While he could understand the sentiment,  he wasn’t really a “people person”, and preferred to spend his time alone. Not to mention today was a weekday. There were still errands to run and chores to be done, and he didn’t plan on slacking off, even for today.

Most people would find it odd or strange. _They_ couldn’t possibly imagine spending the day without friends around, but that wasn’t _him_ . As far as Arnick was concerned, the _only_ company he needed today was a nice, tall Black coffee from Ivan Blackfin’s Roast, just down the street. Oh, speaking of, he should get going soon if he wanted to make it before the morning rush.

Arnick stood up as swiftly as he could manage in his still half asleep state, and reached for the sky, stretching all of his limbs. A satisfying _crack_ emitted from his joints, despite the absence of any. He stood for a moment in post-stretch bliss before walking a few inches over to his dresser, still blurry eyed. He moved his trusty pet cactus, Private Potter, from the dresser to the windowsill, allowing him to better photosynthesize, and gave his tiny captain’s cap a little pat.

He then felt around his dresser for his own, desperate for something to shield his eyes from the overwhelming sun. However, it didn’t seem to be there. He blinked rapidly to clear his vision and looked all over the small dresser top, still unable to locate his hat. Nothing but stray pencils and other miscellaneous items littered the area.

He became puzzled. Funny, he though. He could have sworn he tossed it here last night. Maybe it fell behind the dresser? He gave a quick look. Nope… hm, odd. He must have left it on the couch in the living room when he took a nap on the couch yesterday… He’ll just grab it on the way out then.

As Arnick was turning to leave for the door, he caught a glimpse of himself in his bedroom mirror that hung on his closet door, and gave a displeased expression. He was planning to leave for Ivan’s right away, but seeing how crude he looked just wearing his pajamas, he decided to have a shower first. He typically went out for coffee first thing in the morning, but a black long sleeved shirt and sweatpants was not at all appropriate wear for an outing. Especially since he planned to stay for a bit instead walking in and out for his coffee. Luckily, Ivan’s didn’t _really_ get busy until 8:30, so he could still make it in time if he hurried.

Arnick once again made his way to his bedroom door and exited the room, walking down the hallway towards the bathroom. Before he entered the room, he stopped just short of the door handle and looked towards the kitchen, noticing something unusual. Tetrox, the plucky southern octoling who had been living with him the past two years, was not at her usual spot. Every morning she would wake up an hour before him and sit at the kitchen’s island, reading the previous day’s newspaper. He was pretty sure she couldn’t read even a bit of Inkling, but it was something Arnick knew she very much enjoyed. It struck him as odd that she wasn’t there.

Another thing was the stove’s clock. Usually hidden by Tetrox when sitting at the counter, Arnick could now see it perfectly. It read 7:30 AM--a whole hour and thirty minutes _after_ his usual wake up time. He only realized it now, but his alarm clock had read half past seven as well. _Peculiar_. He thought. It’s been set to go off at 6 o'clock sharp each morning ever since he first got it. Perhaps it was becoming defective? After repeated slams to the head every morning, it wasn’t much of a surprise it broke. He made a mental note to get a new one while he was out today – and to take better care of his things. He looked at the stove’s clock once more. He would certainly have to rush if wanted to be out the door and at Ivan’s by 8:00.

So, one 10 minute shower later, Arnick got out, quickly dried off, adorned himself in his usual hero replica jacket and red hi-tops, gathered his keys and wallet, and headed for the door. However, he wasn’t free just yet. As he was turning the door handle, Arnick suddenly realized how _free_ his tentacles felt. He tapped the top of his head instinctively, and felt the cool texture of the ink on his head, instead of the thick fabric of his hat. That's right, he didn’t have it on because he left it on the couch the previous night. He would just quickly grab it and be on his way.

Arnick then looked over to the couch in the living room just off the entryway, expecting to see the purple piece of headgear resting peacefully on a cushion or armrest, but, besides a few stray pillows, it was completely empty. A bit puzzled, Arnick walked over and checked underneath the aforementioned pillows for his beloved hat. Not there. He checked between the cracks diligently, and even removed the cushions themselves, but still no hat.

“Okay, now this is a little _more_ than puzzling,” he thought aloud.

You see, Arnick was quite a tidy man. Everything in his home was always put away in its proper place when not in use. If it wasn’t, it was in its _other_ designated spot (in this case, hat on couch). This system prevented him from ever losing anything, and in the past few years he has lived in this apartment, he hadn’t lost a single thing _._ Well, actually that wasn’t entirely true. As of the past two years, he had lost quite a few things, but those were only because of –

_Tetrox._

And then it clicked. ‘ _Of course,_ ’ Arnick thought, as he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. But _who else_ would take _any_ and _every_ opportunity to mess with him. He wasn’t at all surprised. The damn prankster was always doing things like this. His alarm clock probably wasn’t defective either. She probably messed with it so she’d have time to hide it while he slept. _Clever_ , but she would have to do better than that to best him.

Tetrox was nothing if not predictable when it game to her ‘pranks’. She’s played all sorts of jokes on him over the years, but her most common one was taking his things and hiding them. He wasn’t much of a jokester, but that was a very lazy prank, in his opinion – and she wasn’t even that good at it. She always hid everything in the same exact locations, which he had memorized by now. Honestly, it characterized her more like a greedy dragon, stealing objects of interest and shoveling them into random places to ‘collect’ later;evidenced by her room’s floor _always_ covered with random junk.

Actually, she probably just had a hoarding problem…No matter. Arnick would think about Tetrox’s personal dysfunctions later, right now _he had a missing hat to locate,_ and he’d be _damned_ if he waited until _after_ his coffee to get it back.

––

A couple of _hours_ later, the man found himself standing in the center of his living room.  He didn’t have his trusty Captain’s cap, his compulsory cup of coffee, or the energy to do _anything_ . He was surprised he could still think straight. He normally would have taken a nap in defeat by now. But no, he was still awake, if not _very_ much exhausted. He fell into the couch in vanquish. Tetrox seemed to have ‘upped her game’ as she would say, and found herself a new hiding spot for Arnicks things. A spot _still_ unknown to him.

At first he had checked all the usual places. Kitchen cabinets and stove (he had previously told her that it was a fire hazard, so he was relieved not to find it there), quite literally _everywhere_ in the bathroom (yes, _everywhere_ ), and then the pantry. When they all bore fruitless, Arnick was mixture of surprised and panicked. _Where the hell could she have hidden this thing?!_ he asked himself internally, _countless_ times.

Hoping he had just missed something, he rechecked every spot three more times, but still found nothing. So then he moved on to some possible new locations. Places that were easily accessible to Tetrox. First he investigated his office, then the storage room, and lastly his room _and_ the living room once more! _Nowhere_ went unsearched. Arnick practically turned the entire apartment _upside down_ , and still nothing! He thought it a bit suspicious he hadn’t found it by now, and that only meant one thing. Either Tetrox had once again outsmarted him, and it was hiding _right_ under his nose, or it _wasn’t_ in the apartment.

Arnick put his elbows to his knees and rubbed his temples with his fingers as if fending off a headache. That damn octoling probably ran off with his hat, and was currently doing _cod_ knows what with it. _Hopefully_ she didn’t end up destroying it, but with her he honestly didn’t know. Not that it really mattered, though. It was only a replica.

He wasn’t allowed to use the hat given to him by Cuttlefish himself after the hub moved to Inkopolis Square, and he had since had to retire it. Much of the old gear that would be returning to the new shops was left up in the air and only released every few months, leaving him stuck wearing the Special Forces Beret until the cap’s replica came out, but those are easily replaceable nowadays. His old one definitely _wasn’t,_ but it was still safe. He locked it up somewhere tight, forever hidden away from Tetrox’s grabby claws. Cod, why couldn’t he have just gone out an gotten a new one?! It would have been _so_ much easier than dealing with this nonsense –

_Click._

Arnick lifted his head to the sound of the front door being opened, and saw Tetrox enter the room. She walked in as if trying her best to be quiet, clearly not noticing Arnick in the living room. She held a receipt in her mouth, and a few plastic grocery bags on her arms and tentacles, all labeled “Trapper Joe’s”. Arnick was about to speak up to scorn her about his missing hat and presumably messing with his clock, when Tetrox suddenly turned around and saw him on the couch.

Her face lit up with undeniable glee. “Oh, Nicky, you’re up!” Tetrox said excitedly, muffled through the receipt.

Arnick eyed her and the bags suspiciously. “Yes...and I see you’ve been busy.” he said, carefully watching her.

Tetrox grabbed the receipt out of her mouth, shoved it into one of the bags, and hurriedly set the rest on the kitchen counter. Arnick looked at the bags curiously. Through the thin material, Arnick could make out their contents. Mostly fruit, vegetables, and random assortments of foods. He was a bit surprised when he recognized the arrangement of items as the monthly groceries; nearly everything on his usual list was in there. He was normally the one to do that kind of shopping...

“Yeah, I went out an’ did all the food shoppin’ for yah!” Tetrox began as she quickly rummaged through bag after bag, clearly looking for something. “I figured you’d wanna enjoy the day off – oh! And I gotcha a lil' somethin' while I was out, too!” She said as she finally found the item of interest. She pulled out a medium white cardboard box from one of the bags and trotted over to him, a wide grin on her face. She pounced down on the couch cushion right next to him, invading his _personal space_ , and presented the box to him.

“Happy birthday, Sugar!” She made no clear attempt to hide her excitement.

Arnick took the box from her and held it in his hands uncomfortably “Uh, Tetrox, I told you I’m really not big on gifts…” While not untrue, he was quite honestly more concerned that this was possibly another one of Tetrox’s _many_ pranks. Last time she handed him something like this, he had glitter stuck in his ink for _weeks_ . And let me tell you, that was _not_ a fun thing to explain to your team captain.

Tetrox rolled her eyes annoyed, clearly able to sense what he was _really_ thinking. “Sugar, I _promise_ it ain’t nothin’ like that.”

Anrick eyed her skeptically.

She crossed her arms and huffed, “Just _open_ the box.”

He did as he was told, and began opening it – _carefully_. The thin cardboard creaked as it slowly pulled out from the lid’s secure holding place, an uncomfortable sound that made both Arnick and Tetrox visibly cringe. Once fully removed, he cracked it open just enough so light could reach its contents, and peered inside. He didn’t see any glitter or any possible traps, just some purple fabric. Quite familiar purple fabric, actually. Hang on a second…Arnick opened the lid fully, and just as he had expected;

_It was his hat._

  
Arnick looked over to Tetrox with a deadpan expression “Ah, _yes_ . What a _lovely_ , and completely _genuine_ gift you have given me. _Very_ funny.” he said, letting sarcasm drip from his voice with every emphasized word.

Tetrox’s face contorted in offense. “What? Noooo,” she pouted. “Take a closer look!” She pointed back to his hat, her finger just above the center of it.

“ _Tetrox_ ,” Arnick said looking back down condescendingly, already fed up with this entirely, “I have been looking for this _all_ day, and when I _finally_ get it back, it’s through some mediocre prank-” He cut himself off when he finally noticed what she was pointing to. He picked up the hat to inspect more closely.

In the exact spot to fit his tentacles through, there was a small hole where there wasn’t one before. Not a crude scissor clipped hole, but a almost perfectly shaped opening with edges embroidered in purple thread nearly identical to the fabric of his hat. He caressed the hole from underneath, feeling the threads texture “You...made a hole for my tentacles?” he asked, astonished.

Tetrox rubbed the back of her head and averted her eyes, holding her hands awkwardly in her lap. “Uh, yeah. You kept goin’ on on about not bein’ able to put ‘em through anymore, and how you were gonna get it modified, but ‘cha never did...so...I did it for yah,” she trailed off for a moment. “Oh, but that’s no all I did, look here!” She became excited once again, and pointed to a newly sewn on patch of fabric, identical in shape and color to the same patch on his other hat.

Arnick quickly began inspecting the hat further, noting several other details that had been added. From the slight dirty dinge on the front, to the clipped tag on the inside of its sweat band, every worn detail from his old cap was replicated near perfectly onto this one. Even the brim looked worn and beaten despite being almost brand new. He let his impressed surprise show through a slight gaped mouth.

“Where did you get this done?” he asked quietly, still in awe.

Tetrox twiddled two band-aid ridden thumbs in her lap. And shifted a bit in her seat “Uh, local place in town...Eye of the Needlefish.”

“Ah,” he replied in acknowledgement, as he continued to inspect and admire the detail. It was all done by hand, clearly done by an amateur as evidenced by some sloppy areas – but the stitches held firm and served their purpose. He’d probably never say it out right, but Arnick was rather impressed. He kept his original hat locked away, so there was no possibility she had used it for reference when adjusting this one. Not even he knew his original cap’s full physical description without having it right in front of him. That was quite a memory Tetrox had.

After a few moments of silence of him inspecting, Arnick felt Tetrox shift a little beside him. “Soooo, whaddya think?” she leaned over a little, now fully invading his personal bubble.

Arnick gave a nearly invisible smile before finally putting the cap on. His tentacles slipped through seamlessly, sending a wave of nostalgia over him. He adjusted his cap and gave a small sigh. It was good to be back. He looked over to her “Perfect fit. This was an incredibly kind thing for you to do, Tetrox, thank you. I greatly appreciate it.” He looked her in the eyes and gave her a small, but genuine smile, and nodded. “Really,”

Tetrox’s cheeks turned a dark shade of purple as she sat stunned for a few seconds, before smiling a big toothy grin and smacking him on the back, knocking the wind out of him. He nearly fell to the ground from the impact. “Well, good!” she began as he struggled to regain his breath “If yah didn’t you woulda had to deal with it anyway, because I don’t do returns!”

He gave a small ‘humph’. “You know, I was honestly expecting this to be some sort of prank – like the glitter bomb from a few months ago.”

Tetrox snorted and scratched her nose “ _Naaaaah_ , if I was mean enough to mess with you on yah birthday, I would've gotten you something you _hated._ Like a surprise party.”

Arnick stood up and stretched, then turned around to grab his keys and wallet from nearly falling in the cushions. “Well, I don’t _hate_ surprise parties, I just typically like to spend my day alone.” Tetrox seemed to perk up at that.

He fiddled with his keys, searching for the house key in particular. “Anyway, I’m going for coffee. Care to join me?” he offered, heading for the door. Tetrox raised an eyebrow at him watching him walk to the door.

“Uh, sure, I gotta head out later anyway,” she said as she got up to follow him, turning her head to look over at the kitchen stove, “...but ain’t it a lil' late for coffee?”

“Well, I would have gone out a lot _sooner_ , but _someone_ ran off with my hat.”

Tetrox laughed hysterically as she chased after him. “Did you _seriously_ refuse to leave the house without your hat?!”

Arnick rolled his eyes. “Tetrox, it’s a matter of _principle_.”

“Uh huh, yeah sure, you ain’t just overly attached to your hat, mhmm.”

Tetrox walked out the door as Arnick held it open for her, and he then quickly followed, shutting the door behind them.

“ _Shut up._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading!
> 
> Characters Belong to: @tamarinfrog/@cafe-cardamari on tumblr.


End file.
